Marder 1
}} The Marder is a West German infantry fighting vehicle and armored personnel carrier operated by the German Army as the main weapon of the Panzergrenadier (mechanized infantry) from the 1970s through the present day. Developed as part of the rebuilding of Germany's armored fighting vehicle industry, the Marder has proven to be a successful and solid infantry fighting vehicle design. While it does include a few unique features, such as the fully remote machine gun on the rear deck, it is overall a simple and conventional machine with rear exit hatch and side gun ports for mounted infantry to fire through. Around 2,100 were taken into service by the German Army in the early 1970s, but the vehicle in its German variant was not sold to any foreign militaries. As the German Army began to retire older vehicles, the Chilean government agreed to acquire 200 Marders; the government of Greece has considered the purchase of 450 retired vehicles in the past. Argentina uses a simplified and locally produced variant, the VCTP, and has a number of vehicles based on that platform constructed by Henschel and built by TAMSE. Overview The Marder 1 is a good autocannon platform. More armoured than most other autocannon carriers, it is able to get closer to the enemy armour. Since it also has a good operational range and speed too, the Marder 1 can generally manage to reach its destination safely. With plenty of ammunition, its only drawback is a relatively poor accuracy. For 5 points more than the AMX-10P, it's actually a lot better. One of the really cost efficient autocannon for NATO. Later models also come equipped with misiles and the A3 version has the toughest armour of any APC in Wargame. History Development of the Marder ran from January 1960, when the first development contracts were issued, to 7 May 1971, when the first production vehicles were given to the German army. In 1967, after military requirements were finalized, a third and final set of ten prototypes were built. Final development work was completed by the Rheinstahl group, and 10 pre-production vehicles were built and completed troop trials with the German army between October 1968 and March 1969. In May 1969, the vehicle was officially named the "Marder" and in October Rheinstahl was chosen as the prime contractor. The first production Marder 1 was handed to the German army on 7 May 1971. Production of the vehicle continued until 1975, with 2,136 vehicles being completed. In 1975 the Milan missile was first adapted to be fired by commander from his open hatch, and between 1977 and 1979 Milan missiles were fitted to army vehicles. A number of upgrade programs were carried out, that included fitting night vision equipment and a thermal imager, as well as an upgraded ammunition feed to the 20 mm cannon. Around 1985 the designation was changed to Marder-1 (until then it was simply Marder) since a follow-up IFV was under construction. Since the new vehicle should be the partner of the Leopard-II just like Marder was the companion to the Standardpanzer/Leopard I, it was named Marder-2 and the older vehicles re-designated.Prior to the developement of the Bradley fighting vehicle the U.S. Army considered aquiring the Marder. Weapons ''European Escalation 'Red Dragon''' See Also * Category:European Escalation vehicles Category:AirLand Battle vehicles Category:Red Dragon vehicles Category:Infantry Fighting Vehicle